Pochettino hints at squad rotation after Monaco loss

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has indicated he will rotate his squad for Sunday's Premier League game against Sunderland following their midweek Champions League loss to Monaco.

Pochettino's men were beaten 2-1 at Wembley by the Ligue 1 side and he explained the amount of energy expended in the game could lead to changes being made against David Moyes' men.

But he insisted any players who are left out will not be dropped from the team as a result of mistakes in the Champions League match.

"It'll be a tough game," Pochettino told a pre-match news conference. "It's the Premier League, it demands a lot of energy like the Champions League.

"It's true that after Wednesday I am thinking about rotating the team a bit, the starting XI. We'll see what happens tomorrow [Saturday] when we assess all the players and take the best decision for the team.

"It was collective [on Wednesday] and it's not about focusing on some players. All season it's difficult to play and when you play in the Champions League you expend a lot of energy.

"Maybe that, for us, is new - to handle playing Wednesday and Saturday or Sunday. In the last two seasons we always rotated the squad a lot when we played in the middle of the week in the Europa League."

Left-back Danny Rose [hamstring] is still unavailable for Tottenham, but Pochettino confirmed winger Georges-Kevin N'Koudou is almost ready to make his first appearance for the club after signing from Marseille.

"If all is going like so far I think maybe one week more and [Rose] will be available to be selected," said Pochettino. "Now it is about the feeling every day.

"[N'Koudou] needs to work more. I think maybe he will be ready to be selected next week - maybe but not sure.

"It's going well. He's very young, he speaks only French, it's a big problem for him. He is learning quick but he is still settling into the team."

Harry Winks became the latest Tottenham player to sign a new contract, following Christian Eriksen and Eric Dier in committing his future to White Hart Lane, and Pochettino hailed the club's ability to retain their best players.

"I need to say that the club has made a big effort to try to keep all our talent," Pochettino said. "I think it's fantastic for the club and my feeling is we need to do more because the club gives us a lot of very good things.

"We need to show more as a team - more passion, more desire. The club is working very well in this aspect and it's always good to hear young players have extended their contracts and shown their commitment to the club."

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